Narrowing or occlusion of blood vessels, such as the walls of an artery, inhibit normal blood flow. Such blockages, whether partial or full, can have serious medical consequences, depending upon their location within a patient's vascular system. Narrowing or blockage of the coronary vessels that supply blood to the heart, a condition known as atherosclerosis, may cause damage to the heart. Heart attacks (myocardial infarction) may also result from this condition. Other vessels are also prone to narrowing, including carotids, renals, cerebrals, and other peripheral arteries.
Various surgical procedures are currently used to reduce or remove the blockage in blood vessels. Such procedures include balloon angioplasty, which involves inserting a balloon catheter into the narrowed or occluded area, expanding the balloon in the narrow or occluded area, and if necessary, placing a stent in the now expanded area to keep it open. Another common procedure used is atherectomy where the lesion is cut away and removed from the vessel, or abrasively ground, sending the small particulates downstream. Other endovascular procedures make use of thrombectomy, drug delivery, radiation, stent-grafts, and various diagnostic devices.
Another alternative is bypass surgery in which a section of vein is removed from, for example, the patient's leg, e.g., a saphenous vein, to be used as a graft to form a pathway to bypass the occluded area. The saphenous vein graft (SVG), however, is also susceptible to becoming occluded in a manner similar to that of the bypassed vessel. In such a case, angioplasty (with or without the use of a stent) or atherectomy is often used on the SVG to remove or reduce the blockage.
Each of the above described procedures carries with it the risk that some of the treated plaque will be disrupted, resulting in embolic particulates released in the bloodstream. These emboli, if allowed to flow through the vascular system, may cause subsequent infarctions or ischemia in the patient. SVGs treated by angioplasty or atherectomy carry a particularly high risk of this result, but such problems are also encountered in the other types of procedures mentioned, such as carotids, or native coronary arteries, particularly those whose lesions include thrombus.
Several systems to prevent emboli being released into the bloodstream during such procedures have been tried. One system uses a balloon to totally occlude the artery distal (downstream) to the area of blockage to be treated. In this system, a guidewire with a balloon is introduced into the narrowed or occluded area, and passes through the narrowed or occluded area to a position downstream of the blockage. The balloon is inflated, the blockage is reduced or removed, and then the blood proximal to the balloon is withdrawn from the blood vessel to remove any particles or emboli which have resulted from the reduction of the blockage. While this system has shown a decrease in emboli related complications in patients undergoing such treatments, the event rate remains significant. One particular problem with this system is passing the guidewire and balloon through the narrowed or occluded area prior to occlusion with the balloon, creating the risk that emboli will be produced as the balloon passes through the blockage. Thus, any particulate or plaque disturbed during this passage which forms emboli prior to inflation of the balloon is free to flow through the vascular system, increasing the risk for infarction or ischemia. Also, any debris or particulate matter which gathers around the edges of the balloon may slip downstream during deflation and retrieval of the balloon. In addition, this system requires that blood flow be totally occluded in the vessel for relatively prolonged intervals that may induce adverse cardiac events. Although this may not be a problem clinically, many patients perceive the occlusion of blood flow for this period of time as problematic.
Another system used to prevent emboli being released into the bloodstream during surgical intervention is a filter. As with the occlusion balloon, the filter must pass through the narrowed or occluded area and is deployed distal (downstream) to the blockage. The filter then catches any particulate material generated during the removal of the blockage. The filter offers the benefit that blood flow is not totally occluded. However, because the filter must pass through the blockage, it suffers from the same drawback as the previous system—risk of the creation of emboli during passage of the filter through the blockage. In addition, it is difficult to deploy the filter securely against the walls of the vessel to prevent flow around the filter and any debris or particulate matter which gathers around the edges of the filter may slip downstream during its retrieval. Also, in order to allow blood flow during the procedure, the pores of the filter should be at least 100 microns in diameter. The majority of emboli have a diameter between about 40 microns and about 100 microns. Thus, the filter will not catch the majority of emboli, which may flow downstream and cause an infarction or ischemia. The filter also cannot prevent the passage of certain neurohumoral or vasoactive substances which are released into the blood during the procedure and may contribute to generalized vasospasm of the distal coronary tree.
Thus, there is a need for an improved system and method of treating occluded vessels which can reduce the risk of distal embolization during vascular interventions. There is also a need for a system which reduces the amount of time that total occlusion of the blood flow is necessary.